Work it out: Julie Meyer

In our weekly series, Jo Glynn-Smith meets working women to discuss the secrets to their success

Every week, Jo Glynn-Smith interviews a successful woman to find out how she made it to the top, and gets tips on maintaining a successful work-life balance. This week she meets Julie Meyer, founder and CEO of Ariadne Capital.

Describe your job
“As Founder and CEO, I lead the team, the mission and the business of Ariadne Capital, which I founded 15 years ago to pioneer the financing of entrepreneurship by entrepreneurs. We back great founders and help them accelerate their business. I identify and secure excellent talent for the firm, communicate our strategy and the successes of our clients and portfolio companies to the market, and identify new areas that the firm needs to expand into.”

Detail your career path
“My career path has been more of a zigzag. I have always been interested in ideas and how they shape the world. As an English literature major who came to Cambridge, UK in 1986 on a junior year abroad, and then went to Paris in September 1988 to make my fortune, I became interested in the emerging European marketplace which was changing as a result of the fall of the Berlin wall. Teaching English to tech firm MNGT in Paris for a couple of years helped me to see how technology was/is changing the world. I started to see that technology is really a set of ideas that are jostling in the market for dominance. Communication is vital, and marketing trumps technology. I also then learned what I was good at in a benchmarking exercise at INSEAD in 1997, and was ready to build businesses on the other side, selling First Tuesday in July 2000 for $50 million to Jerusalem Global.”

What is the most rewarding aspect of what you do?
“I believe that society works best when it’s organised around the entrepreneur. So making that belief a reality in the world is a privilege and the most rewarding part of what I do, as I can see the net benefits of our work daily. None of us would be where we are without help from friends and fellow travellers. That is what’s so important about what my firm Ariadne does: we enable the success of entrepreneurs who drive wealth creation in society, from which all society benefits.”

What’s the one piece of business advice you would pass on?
“The deal – any deal in any relationship – is always done at the beginning. The most you can do later is course correct, but you fundamentally never renegotiate the terms of the deal. Having learned this lesson the hard way from my first start-up, I work hard to help the entrepreneurs that we work with establish a ‘positive architecture’ so that all parties are aligned – those who create value at the beginning are there at the end to reap the rewards.”

One piece of advice you ignored?
“The chairman of the investment firm who hired me out of business school tried to keep me in a box and advised me that I’d never do what essentially I have done. I think I’ve always been inherently distrustful of people telling me I can’t do things, probably down to the fact that my father told me I could do anything I set my mind on.”

Do you have a mentor or someone who inspired you?
“I am inspired by a broad range of people, both historical and current day: Martin Luther because he had the courage to take on the Catholic Church, and he figured out how to create enough of a storm that they calculated that they couldn’t kill him for challenging their authority; my father because he created an industry (that of pulmonary medicine in Northern California which swept across North America and the world in the 1970’s); Ayn Rand for having written a thesis as novel, and for articulating the creative genius which drives the world forward so well; and Ronald Reagan, for having the courage to lead the world at the time and in the way that he did.”

Describe your work style
“I always wear a dress or suit as I deal with people who have money and I have to look credible to institutions, HNWI’s etc. Out in Silicon Valley where I’m from, I’d be over dressed, but I find it works for me in London. I’m also someone who just feels naked without heels on. On the weekends, I’m dress completely differently, but during the week, I wear Michaela Jedinak, Ralph Lauren, Mulberry, Michael Kors, Iris and Ink and Roland Mouret.”

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What’s your favourite…

…form of exercise?
“I have a personal trainer I work out with for 90 minutes, three or four times a week in my local gym. I am utterly exhausted at the end, but the next day I feel like I could conquer the world.”

…way to relax?
“My bathroom was renovated this past year and is beautiful; it’s like it has become a spa. I spend a lot of time relaxing in the bathtub.”

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…beauty treatment?
“I have an amazing facialist – an expert in ayurveda – who I see weekly on Saturday mornings without fail.”

…beauty product?
“About 10 years ago, Jyoti (who works at Joseph in Beauchamp Place) got me started on rose water to tone my face, and it immediately corrected everything that was wrong with my skin. She’s extremely knowledgeable, and now I only spend £1 a bottle to keep my skin looking good.”

…tech product?
“I try them all! It’s my business.”

…restaurant?
“I have some places I visit regularly. 34 in Grosvenor Square take really good care of me, and the piano bar and food are fantastic. Amaya on Motcomb Street is simply the best Indian food in town (the tomato & ginger prawns are to die for), but I also splurge on Mestizo in West Hampsted once a quarter.”

…service you cant live without?
“Louisa my housekeeper is a lifesaver. She’s totally organised my house, and I trust her to make things work at home.”

…guilty pleasure?
“I’m a huge green tea drinker; it kills my appetite. If I didn’t love green tea, I don’t know what I would do as I have the biggest sweet tooth in the world. Occasionally I’ll have some dark chocolate, and I love blueberries – could eat a garden of them.”

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